Monday, February 13, 2017

What a day!

Sunday was promised to be a lovely Spring day so I had high hopes and great ambitions. After breakfast for us and the dogs, I headed over to the home of Peaceful Passings Senior Animal Rescue, which had a huge box of donated bones and chews that were far oversized for most of their fosters. Anyone involved in rescue receives donations from businesses and individuals, food, crates, collars, medications, etc., and we greatly appreciate them. Sometimes it's stuff we just don't need, but chances are that we know of another organization or individual who can use it. Consequently, things get passed around, sometimes more than once, until they find someone who can put them to good use. That spirit of cooperation is one of the best things about rescue work. We don't always get along as members of the same organization because we all hear the music of a different drummer. We generally get along with dogs better than people, and we often lack interpersonal and organizational skills, but we still have the same broad goal in mind. The other thing that we all have in common is that we operate on a shoestring budget, so when we have stuff to share, we do.

Peaceful Passings also happens to be the adoptive home of one of my former fosters, Patch. He came out to greet me along with 4-5 others when I arrived and instantly recognized me as friend rather than foe. There are a lot of blog posts about Patch, back in October-November of 2013. Here is one that provides an array of pictures that show his progress:  Six Weeks of Patch. Patch's story is one of incredible transformation of a very neglected and very unique dog. And I love the fact that he has taken on a role in rescue work himself, as Vice President of Peaceful Passings, and is very good at it.




That liquid is about a quart of vegetable
oil, a dozen eggs, with shells, and two
packages of gelatin mixed in the blender.
Messy, but yummy.
Feed raw, do not cook it.
On my way back home I made a detour to a grocery store to pick up supplies to make a batch of Satin Balls for my two underweight fosters, Lily and Simba. Mixing them up is a messy business but it's very easy and a proven way to put weight onto dogs. Lily eats well and would probably gain weight just eating the 8 cups per day of dry food that she's been getting. Simba seems to be a picky eater and doesn't devour his food the way he needs to. Both dogs liked the Satin Balls, however, and it encouraged Simba is eat more of his dry food along with the tasty meat mixture. I varied the recipe a bit this time based on ingredients that I had and those that I could find at Food Lion on Sunday morning, but the dogs didn't seem to mind.













Lily the beautiful
Such a beautiful day demanded a romp in the pasture. I went out with Theo, Max, Simba, Lily, Vince, and Gigi. The warm day was also perfect for refilling all the water tanks with fresh water. Theo played ball. Simba ran with him but rarely got a ball. Even Max sort of joined in the game. Lily explored the pasture mostly, but she stuck around and occasionally picked up a ball although she din't really see what all the fuss was about. It was warm enough that the dogs sought out the fresh water and shade fairly often. Having been living on a balcony, Simba lacks the muscle development that a young male shepherd should have. His youthful energy compensated for that to a large extent, but he needs this kind of exercise as well as food to grow.
Simba

A good time was had by all.






























Max with a ball in his mouth.























Simba



















Vince doesn't play ball, but he kept an eye on everyone and
marked a lot of stuff in the pasture.

























Max, Simba, and Lily


















The bees were active in the warm weather.














Water break: Theo, Simba, and Lily
























Vince and Max

















Lily is so beautiful.










































Gigi enjoys getting out to stretch her legs on a nice day.


















This picture sums up how Max plays with the others.
He's out there with them, he's got a ball, but he's
moving in a different direction.









































Here are a group of pictures of Simba and Lily, after all, they are the two who are up for adoption.



This is a great picture of Lily and Simba together.

Simba sure has the classic German Shepherd look.




After the romp, Samantha came outside,
thinking that with all the activity going on
it must surely be dinner time.
Trooper on the trail.
After the romp, I loaded up Trooper and Maya and we went for a hike at Pleasant Grove. There were a lot of people out enjoying the weather. We saw a lot of people, but we managed to avoid any close encounters over the course of our three mile walk.

About mid-afternoon Clay and I headed to town for a trip to Costco, dinner, and a movie. We saw "Hidden Figures" and I can really recommend it. Best of all, when we finally got home we found no damage, no destruction, no havoc in the house. Maya had been a good girl.






































1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love all the pics of your happy pups! I was so happy to see a pic and read an update on Patch!!!